Application close date:
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

This role is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE), supporting Blue Origin's mission of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. The team fosters innovation and drives engineering workflows of the future, shared solutions and standards, simplicity and lower costs, and manufacturable design.

Join Blue Origin as we build infrastructure in space for the benefit of Earth. We're developing a satellite constellation of orbital data centers designed to transform how compute infrastructure is deployed and leveraged.

As a Senior Principal Spacecraft Design Engineer, you will serve as the primary technical authority and owner for the end-to-end design of the spacecraft. You are a novel thinker, someone who does not rely solely on past experience, but finds new and innovative approaches to challenging engineering problems. You will be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, leading a multidisciplinary effort and making critical design decisions. This is a senior, hands-on leadership role that demands expert-level systems thinking, a deep understanding of engineering principles across multiple domains, and the ability to solve our most challenging technical problems while guiding a team of engineers.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Lead and own the entire spacecraft design and development, including power, thermal, compute, and communications systems, and identify novel solutions.
• Directly perform hands-on, high-complexity design and modeling work in CREO to create detailed 3D models, component specifications, and production-level drawings.
• Conduct and document trade studies to drive design decisions, optimize system architecture, and ensure requirement compliance.
• Perform and guide structural, thermal, and tolerance analyses to validate design integrity and performance.
• Comfortable managing engineers while staying deeply hands-on.
• Develop and oversee the execution of verification and validation test campaigns for hardware, from component to system level.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including analysis, manufacturing, and electrical engineering, to deliver highly integrated and robust hardware solutions.
• Present design concepts, analysis results, and technical recommendations to program leadership and key stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in the detailed design and analysis of complex mechanical systems.
• Expert proficiency in 3D modeling and detailed design.
• Extensive, hands-on experience designing, analyzing, and testing space mechanisms.
• Strong fundamentals in mechanical engineering principles, including statics, dynamics, materials, and machine design.
• Proven ability to lead technical projects and work independently with minimal supervision.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or a related discipline.
• Proven track record of leading the design of multiple flight hardware components or systems through the full product lifecycle.
• Hands-on building, assembly, and manufacturing experience.
• Experience with Model Based Definition (MBD) and its application in a production environment.
• Familiarity or fluency with AI tools and their application for design optimization or analysis.
• Bonus if you have an understanding of data center designs.
• Expertise in Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) and its application to complex assemblies.
• Experience with CREO
• Experience with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tools (e.g., ANSYS, NASTRAN) for structural analysis.

Base Pay Range for:
CO applicants is $190,458.00 - $266,641.20WA applicants is $194,121.00 - $271,768.35

Other site ranges may differ

Benefits

• Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.